Television: Stanton's No

Passing almost unnoticed last week amid the fuss over the Purloined
Papers was another journalistic controversy. The questions: Does First
Amendment protection extend to television and allow it to freely edit
news? Does the Government have the right to judge whether TV's editing
is deceptive? The answer may come soon, and with it perhaps a
contempt-of-Congress citation for the president of CBS.

The argument resulted from CBS's now famous documentary The Selling of
the Pentagon (TIME, April 5, 12), which showed how the Defense
Department spends millions to promote its public image. After the Nixon
Administration complained that the program distorted the...